


The Obligatory "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

by gingerlegend



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Dana is a great character, and Jasika Nicole is probably my favorite night vale voice actor so far, so it's in first person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:15:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingerlegend/pseuds/gingerlegend
Summary: Dana laments what could have been. She laments what used to be. She laments what currently is. But she no longer laments the future.This fic takes place around the time episodes 151 and 152 take place, but there are no spoilers for anything after episode 129, the last part of the A Matter of Blood arc.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	The Obligatory "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Do you remember your childhood? Not everyone does. Not everyone really had a childhood, I suppose.

Okay, assuming you do remember your childhood, you probably recall being asked the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Something about that question always bothered me.

No, it confused me.

No, it bothered me.

My point is, the question was never really what they were asking. They wanted to know our "dream jobs."

In school, I was laughed at for saying I wanted to be a good person. Although considering what I've done since then, they may have been laughing at the implausibility of me being a good person.

My dream job, if I had to pick something so capitalistic, was the reason I interned at the Night Vale Community Radio Station. I was fully aware of the mortality rate. I just believed I could survive it.

No, not survive it. I thought I could thrive in it.

And maybe I did, until I didn't.

Maybe we all do, until we don't.

Cecil is a good person, but not always a good boss. I never had a problem with him, but other former interns did.

I was one of the people who decided to enter the dog park. I was curious about it.

No, dutiful.

No, curious.

Is there a word that means both at once?

I was a reporter. My job, although I wasn't paid for it, was to report. I kept trying to reach Cecil, but it wasn't easy.

And then so soon after I returned, the pulses from Hidden Gorge took my dream away from me.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I almost became exactly what I had hoped to be. Maybe I could have become the next Cecil. I didn't expect to. It didn't even cross my mind. I probably would have been satisfied being the next Leann Hart. I guess there's no way of knowing what could have happened.

It's funny how easily our plans can be upended.

It's funny how the word "funny" sometimes means the exact opposite of its definition.

It's funny, I guess, because comedy equals tragedy plus time, and time is subjective.

I didn't want to be mayor, but I was elected by the Gorge. I felt bad for Pamela Winchell, but she seems happy now.

In my attempts at altruism, however, I think I've caused far too many problems. I need to take time for myself. I need to spend some of that time with my brother, and my mother, and maybe I'll reconnect with Cecil.

I don't know. But I don't need to know. I just need to stop caring so much.

I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused, but stop asking me for interviews. This is the last one, alright? I don't want anyone else to take videos of me. Except the Sheriff's Secret Police, of course.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on adding to this, but for the time being this is all I've got. I wanted to add more before posting it, but I think adding anything more would take away from the message and disrupt the flow. It's a pretty complete monologue.


End file.
